Fake ad blocker extensions used in ad fraud scheme

guest · Sep 17, 2019

Fake ad blocker extensions used in ad fraud scheme
Popular fake ad blockers engaged in cookie stuffing
September 17, 2019
https://www.techradar.com/news/fake-ad-blocker-extensions-used-in-ad-fraud-scheme

At first these add-ons did what they were supposed to and removed ads from web pages as both are based on the code of the original “AdBlock” extension.

AdGuard then discovered that after being installed for around 55 hours, these extensions began to send out a request to urldata.net for each new domain they visited. This allowed the extensions to receive affiliate links from the sites users visited and if they made a purchase while visiting them, the extensions owner would be paid a commission from those sites.
Cookie stuffing
The technique used by the fake ad blockers is known as cookie stuffing and is basically an ad fraud scheme. Not only are the creators of these fake extensions using the names of more popular ad blockers to trick users into downloading them, they are also using their browsing activity and online purchases to earn commissions for themselves.
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According to AdGuard, Google has received multiple reports about how these fake ad blockers are using the names of more popular extensions for their own benefit but the search giant has yet to remove them from the Chrome Web store.
These two extensions have over 1.6m weekly active users who were stuffed with cookies from more than 300 websites from the Alexa Top 10000.
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AdGuard: Fake Ad Blockers 2: Now with Cookies and Ad Fraud

Page42 · Sep 17, 2019

According to AdGuard, Google has received multiple reports about how these fake ad blockers are using the names of more popular extensions for their own benefit but the search giant has yet to remove them from the Chrome Web store.
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Now that is depressing.

Beyonder · Sep 17, 2019

Would Google be horrible at cleaning up their store, even after getting flak for it every year for the past ~5 years? I never would have thought!

guest · Sep 19, 2019

Google removes two Chrome ad blocker extensions caught 'cookie stuffing'
September 19, 2019
https://www.zdnet.com/article/googl...ad-blocker-extensions-caught-cookie-stuffing/

The two extensions were modifying cookies files when users visited certain websites and adding a parameter that would ensure the extension authors would earn a commission from any payments users made on the sites.
Google removed the two extensions this morning, after ZDNet and other news outlets reached after Meshkov published his research yesterday. After their removal, the extensions were also disabled in all users' browsers, preventing new attacks on Chrome users. The first extension had more than 800,000 installs, while the second had over 850,000.
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Page42 · Sep 19, 2019

I like that a co-founder and CTO of AdGuard was the one who discovered this deception.

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